The following patents describe approaches which go in the same direction as the invention, but which do not use the same means and do not achieve the same aim.
Swiss patent CH 684814 describes a timepiece with means making it possible to modify the presentation of the hour circle. A rack is arranged to cooperate with a crown and permit the rotation. At the hour points, studs are provided free in rotation, equipped with satellites engaged with the rack. The prism faces mounted on these studs are set with precious stones, which appear through openings formed in the middle or the dial.
German patent DE 33129 describes a watch dial which makes it possible to see all twenty-four hours of the day. A window, formed at the location where the mention of the hour is located, shows one face of a four-faced body, provided with a staff held by bearings. Inscribed on the faces are the hours corresponding to 1 to 12 and 13 to 24. The staff holding this body is provided with pins which actuate, upon each clock revolution, an arbor, which is itself connected to the staff driving the hands. Upon the passage of the hour hand, the visible face of the body turns by one quarter revolution and goes, for example, from one o'clock to thirteen o'clock.
Swiss patent CH 666380 describes a watch provided with movable decorative elements. The watch case includes a decorative disc with windows, turning freely along the axis of the hands, and a second movable disc, provided on its periphery with an increasing portion set with brilliants and creating an unbalance, turning freely along the same axis as the first decorative disc. The movement of these decorative elements around the dial of the watch is random, which constitutes the similarity with the invention.
Japanese patent JP 2003084079 describes a clock where the figures of the hour circle are inscribed on doors which can open at determined moments. The doors are distributed by groups of three which open successively according to a program acting through electrical commands. Behind the doors are various decorations. The reversed sequences close the doors of each group of three.